Offering a foreigner's view on Korean TV and movies

High School King Of Savvy & Marriage, Not Dating: (B)romance rules!

Tis’ a season of male bonding, with You’re All Surrounded finishing off first with the ever-cutesy pairing of Gookie + Tae-il, and the near father-son matchymatchy Detective Seo and Dae-gu. But fret not, we have another 2 new pairings in the wing:

1) Brothers in mind, but not in blood

I’ve mentioned that Director Yoo Jin-woo acts surprisingly (and unknowingly, to himself) like an elder brother to high schooler Lee Min-seok, with all the annoying I-push-you-you-push-me-back games in the backseat of the car. (i was kinda waiting for one of them to start whining to “mommy Soo-young” about being “bullied”). And that childish behaviours escalate into fist fights, squabbling over their favourite toy girl and basically trying to one-up each other in the office.

Cos the fights are that petty and childish, it is impossible to see Jin-woo + Min-seok as mortal enemies. Though they SHOULD be — since they are sitting in opposite camps. Not juz on the corporate platform with the competition between the Project and Retail Teams, but also with the outstanding family feud between them. We do not know the details on how President Yoo has driven Min-seok’s father to suicide, but he definitely is not innocent given that he gets jittery when he sees Driver Choi (Min-seok’s foster dad). Although President Yoo may not like his illegitimate son that much, Jin-woo has shown that he can be as steadfast and loyal as Min-seok when it comes to protecting his own. Even sadder when Jin-woo’s loyalty doesn’t get the affection he deserves from his dad. Now that we know that Hyung-seok has rigged up a plan to buy over Comfo (which I assume to be built up from his dad’s shares), I expect war to be declared from ep15 onwards.

Which is really tragic, since ep14 has given us glimpses into how Jin-woo and Min-seok can interact without the quibblings. Although Min-seok’s aim is to disengage Soo-young from Jin-woo as much as possible, it is still very sweet that he volunteers to take care of a sick Jin-woo throughout the night — and the next morning. He could have juz paid lip-service and gone home after Soo-young leaves, really. But no, he even goes to the extent of rummaging through his “elder brother’s” wardrobe to find some comfy pjs to change into…really like what an annoying younger sibling will do. After which, he proceeds to crawl into Jin-woo’s bed and falls asleep next to him — cos yunno, sleeping alone in the guest room may be scary. (lol)

Imho, Jin-woo probably welcomes having a dongsaeng fussing over him and playing mock-fights with him. His barbs towards Min-seok in ep14 even after he knows his true identity as a high schooler don’t sound threatening enough — I can’t fathom how “I have games in my computer” is threatening. I kinda feel he doesn’t mind having Min-seok around and uses his trump card to seriously annoy Min-seok juz to get a few chuckles from his over-the-top reactions. Of cos, when Min-seok knows Jin-woo’s secret, he returns the favour tit-for-tat, exactly like how a younger sib will use a secret over the elder sib to his advantage.

I wonder how the story will turn now that the real brother, Hyung-seok, is finally back for good (and why does Seo In-guk look so bloody hot in a corporate shark attire??!). I still want to have more of Jin-woo + Min-seok bromances…but it seems like I may not get my wish if Jin-woo has to now turn to battle Hyung-seok — who I think will not be as cutesy as his younger sib.

And on a side note, let’s not forget Team Leader Kim and Min-seok: although Team Leader Kim plays the naggy mother hen (with Managing Director Han as the distant but stricter “father”) more often than a bromantic potential, he and Min-seok have great chemistry together.

2) Rivals turn “lovers”

The next bromantic pairing goes to Gong Ki-tae and Han Yoo-reum of Marriage, Not Dating, who gets more touchy-feely than our brotherly pair in High School, served with cuddlings, spoonings and all. Doubly funny when Yoo-reum is portrayed as the male version of Jang-mi in terms of his temperament, especially when he explores Ki-tae’s house. Poor Ki-tae, as if having his Nemo tortured and his massage chair tuned out of sync by Jang-mi is not enough, he now has to suffer through the same process with Yoo-reum. And Yoo-reum is also juz as in-your-face as Jang-mi. Both of them are refreshingly honest about how they feel and quick to act upon their feelings. Which is a contrast to Ki-tae’s lack of self awareness and his tendency to bottle all emotions within himself.

Unfortunately, we seem to be only getting a single measly episode of Ki-tae + Yoo-reum’s cohabitation. (shucks) Cos the show has and likely will continue to move on to the OTP and how they unravel the mess they created.